Italy’s Five Star Movement (M5S) party has collected more than 100,000 signatures on a petition calling for a law that would allow a referendum on withdrawal from the eurozone. M5S MP Carlo Sibila says he expects a referendum to take place at the start of next year. Though the petition has already surpassed the required amount of signatures needed for the initiative, Sibila said that he hopes it will gather another 50,000 by early May in order to highlight the issue.“Who wants to stay in euro? This is the main question,” Sibila told RT. “But we don’t want to get out just like this - we want a program and a discussion, and then let the citizens decide. It’s really necessary today as the situation in Italy is going from bad to worse where jobs and economy are concerned.” The Italian constitution, however, does not provide for the cancellation of international agreements through referenda.

According to Sibila, Italy’s debt increased dramatically after the introduction of the euro. He also noted that Italy’s unemployment rate hovers around 12.7 percent, the sixth highest in the EU. “We can’t have our own fiscal policy, but without the euro it is possible in Italy,” Sibila said.The Five Star Movement, formed in 2009 by comedian and activist Beppe Grillo, finished second in the 2014 European Parliament election with 21 percent of the vote. Sibila stressed that M5S does not seek to leave the European Union, but merely to leave the currency union. “Italian citizens need to have the right to decide if they want to stay inside or outside the monetary union,” Sibila told RT. “We are not questioning the European Union, it is only the monetary union.” Italy joined the Eurozone in 1999, and the currency was introduced into circulation three years later. (Excerpted from RT for educational purposes)

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted by Italy's highest court of charges brought against him in the so-called "Bunga Bunga" case.

Italy’s highest appeals court on Tuesday upheld the acquittal of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on charges of paying for sex with an underage girl and then abusing his power in trying to cover it up [referred to in the Italian media as the "Bunga Bunga" case]. The verdict, which came after deliberations that lasted almost until midnight, is a boost to 78-year-old Mr. Berlusconi, who has argued that his myriad legal problems are the product of a witch hunt against him by politically motivated magistrates. But it is unlikely to restore the political fortunes of the billionaire politician, who has been overshadowed by the rising popularity of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Mr. Berlusconi has been scrambling for months to hold together his party, which is sinking in the polls and riven by internal divisions. The ruling follows an appeals court’s decision last July, when Milan magistrates overturned a previous conviction and a sentence of seven years in prison for the conservative leader. Mr. Berlusconi has denied the charges in the sex case. Tuesday’s decision is definitive and can’t be appealed.

The trial is related to events that occurred in 2010, when then-Prime Minister Berlusconi phoned a Milan police station asking for information about a Moroccan woman, Karima El Mahroug —an underage nightclub dancer nicknamed “Ruby Heart-Stealer”—who had been detained for allegedly stealing cash. Ms. El Mahroug has denied the allegations. Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Berlusconi abused his power by pressing the police to release the woman. They also argued that Mr. Berlusconi sought to have her released to cover up an alleged payment he made to her for sex when she was 17. Mr. Berlusconi said he met the woman during dinner parties at his mansion and acknowledged phoning the police station, but denies having pressed police to free Ms. El Mahroug. Both he and Ms. El Mahroug deny having had sex with each other, and Mr. Berlusconi told a court that he didn’t know that Ms. El Mahroug was a minor.

Mr. Berlusconi has faced at least two dozen trials since entering politics in 1994. Yet his first—and only—final conviction came in August 2013, when he was sentenced to a four-year jail term for tax fraud. The sentence was reduced to one year of community service, which the former premier has just finished serving. Mr. Berlusconi was also banned from public office until 2016 and ousted from Italy’s Senate because of the tax fraud conviction. The tax fraud charge was related to Mediaset , Italy’s dominant private television broadcaster, which is controlled by Berlusconi’s family. A court found that the broadcaster bought U.S. film and television rights at inflated prices, allowing the company to fraudulently lower its tax bill. Mr. Berlusconi is also under investigation for alleged witness-tampering related to the trial on the sex and abuse-of-power charges. Prosecutors are investigating whether the media mogul, together with other people including two of his lawyers, sought to corrupt witnesses to give false testimony during the first phase of the trial, which led to the seven-year jail sentence. Mr. Berlusconi and his lawyers deny all charges.After his tax conviction in August 2013, Mr. Berlusconi’s political leadership has been severely dented. In European elections of May 2014, his center-right party Forza Italia garnered just 17% of the vote.The party, weakened by deep internal divisions, is now polling around 13%. While Mr. Berlusconi’s political power is waning, his financial empire is also under heavy pressure. His family wealth has been halved from 2007 to 2013 according to Forbes, and Fininvest—the holding company his family controls—posted a net loss of €428.4 million in 2013, the latest data available. (excerpted from the Wall Street Journal for educational purposes; byline: Manuela Mesco)

Italy is planning to introduce a national minimum wage as part of its labor market overhaul, although the level is yet to be established. The country is mulling setting the wage at about $7.00 per hour with the details set to be woven into law and addressed by the cabinet over the next few weeks. The wage would only apply to those working in sectors whose salaries are not already regulated by an employment contract that applies to specific categories of workers (i.e., union workers). If Italy makes this change, Austria and Cyrus will be the only non-Scandinavian European nations without a minimum wage in place.

Inspired by Scotland’s separatist ambitions, 89 per cent of the residents of the lagoon city and its surrounding area, opted to break away from Italy in an unofficial ballot. The proposed ‘Repubblica Veneta’ would include the five million inhabitants of the Veneto region and could later expand to include parts of Lombardy, Trentino and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Residents of Venice have voted 89 per cent to leave Italy and become an independent state in protest at high taxes levied on the wealthy in order to prop up the poor and crime ridden Mezzogiorno south

The floating city has only been part of Italy for 150 years. The 1000 year–old democratic Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia (Serene Republic of Venice), was quashed by Napoleon and was subsumed into Italy in 1866.

Wealthy Venetians, under mounting financial pressure in the economic crisis, have rallied in their thousands, after growing tired of supporting Italy’s poor and crime ridden Mezzogiorno south, through high taxation. Activists have been working closely with the SNP on their joint agendas, even travelling to Scotland alongside Catalonians and Basque separatists to take part in pro independence rallies.

Campaigners say that the Rome government receives around 71 billion euros each year in tax from Venice - some 21 billion euros less than it gets back in investment and services. Organisers said that 2.36million, 73 per cent, of those eligible to take part voted in the poll, which is not recognised by the Rome government. The ballot also appointed a committee of ten who immediately declared independence from Italy. Venice may now start withholding taxes from Rome. (excerpted from www.dailymail.co.uk for educational purposes)